Pages

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Our first adventure in car shopping

After much discussion, we decided to NOT resurrect my car. We have the rental car until Saturday, with the hopes we will have this figured out. We can't indefinitely rent a car.

I found a car on-line at a local dealership that is a maybe. It is a 2006, has 61k miles (a little more than I wanted, but it still is an average of about 10k a year). G-man called about it and confirmed it was still there, and made an appt for us to look at it today.

Meanwhile, I applied for a car loan with my credit union. We used them for G-man's car, and it was terrific. I did the on-line application....with the tag line of "a decision in less than 60 seconds!".....and got a notice that it is being sent for review. Last time we did this (back in 2009 when the Financial Adviser talked us into trying to pay off the retirement loan with another loan so we could dip into our retirement again)....we were rejected. So now I am nervous.

I am the first to admit our debt to income ratio is high. I know that we have alot of consumer debt. But we pay our bills. We aren't late. My credit score is in the 750's and G-man's is in the 720's....so it isn't like we are down in the 400's....

The premier rate is 2.79% when you allow an autodebit from a checking account with them. Now, I HAD a checking account with them, but it was closed. So I will have to reactivate it, and we will do what we did with G-man's car.....direct deposit into that account so that the CU can just take it back out. Auto pilot!!!

This is all assuming we GET the loan. If we don't, we will have to figure out something else.

10 comments:

I hope you find a car you like! The rate is definitely a very good rate for a car. Only word of advice is, dont go into the dealership thinking that you will walk out with the car (even if that is your plan). Car dealers can see that and will try and tackle you with tons of fees and what not since you NEED to get the car. Sometimes, an extra week of a car rental can yield you a much better car and better prices! Best of luck, keep us informed.

Check craigslist, for an auto that someone bought and cannot afford. Maybe they lost their job, you are just taking over the payments and they are making no profit. We just had a lady at our church buy a new car cash. She passed away 4 months later and her kids sold it for $5,000.00 less than she bought for so the good get out of town quicker. There are deals everywhere just not at a dealership. But I trust you can buy a car.

We just today paid $1930 for new brakes and tires for my husbands truck. DEPRESSING!!! We have put soooooo much money into it. Hope you can find something reliable. Vehicles are the bane of my existance. UGH!

Oh and wanted to second the don't buy an american made vehicle. Every lemon I have ever heard about was a domestic. Honda and Toyota's are the way to go. They hold their value too. Hyundai's are getting better. I would not buy one again though. My first car was a Hyundai and it drastically lost it's value when I drove it off the lot.

So how was car hunting, Mysti? It is much easier to get a car loan if you have a good credit rating. And with regards balancing your finances, I don’t think you’ll find it all that difficult to make your payments. The monthly interest rate of a car loan is fixed, so there’s now worry about increasing monthly payments in the future. Plus, there are car loan dealerships that offer flexible payment terms, so all you have to do is find one that suits you.